a randy Oliver snip followed by > some short comments...

This study pointed out that it wasn't just due to the increased sugar
content of the jelly fed to queen larvae, which is an important finding.

> I guess this might be dependent on how you define 'content'. See lower comment about cell size. 

I found the influence of egg size to be of great interest -- I'll have to
try that, since I already restrict the egg laying by my breeder queens by
keeping them confined between queen excluder frames.

> I am not certain how I would determine this????  Suggestion would be appreciated.

I'm quite curious about why a half mm difference in cell diameter would
make a difference -- resulting in queens emerging at 250 mg instead of 200
mg.

>Basic math would suggest this is a exponential and not a linear relationship. Reference my above reservation about comment concerning sugar content.


If the "best" queens actually come from 10 mm cell cups, then why would
"naturally built" queen cells be smaller?
I just measured some of my JZs BZs cell cups.  They are slightly larger
than 8 mm at the entrance, and taper down.

>From my experience in metal fabrication I will add there is quite commonly some confusion between ID (inside dimension) and OD (outside dimension)... which is generally expressed in metal fabrication world as the difference between 'pipe' vs 'tubing'. < ie one being OD dimension and the other ID dimensions. As to 'natural cells' (ie dry cups) the opening of the cup is always quite a bit smaller than the base of the cell cup.  Once started the dry cup is opened up substantially. < never thought about measuring these so I have no hard data.

Gene in Central Texas...    

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